I do well with 5 hours of sun. But people will argue. In my summer climate, too much sun is dangerous.

Re reflectors, the way to think about them is to imagine that you're sitting where the plant is. You look up, down, left and right. How much sky do you see in all these different directions? Obviously BIG reflectors CLOSE TO the plants will let you see more sky from more directions. Now, although you get some sunlight from the sky, you get a lot more directly from the sun. So a related question might be, as you look up, down, left, and right, in how many directions do you see the sun? The more the better. Of course, the sun moves, and your reflectors probably don't, so unless they are really big, you won't get a lot more sunlight on a particular plant.

I've always considered reflectors more trouble than they're worth. And BIG reflectors CLOSE TO the plants can be kind of a headache.

You can still probably get a harvest with the current location (assuming all other factors are stable) and likely more of a harvest than if the deer had access. Sure it may not be the best harvest as it is less than ideal. But when we can't create an ideal garden location we have to make the best of what we have to work with. But trying to add artificial buffers like reflector panels usually only creates other problems.

I'd focus instead on nothing where the ideal sun exposure really is right now since it didn't turn out to be where you thought it would be, and then work on trying to fence that area for next year to solve the deer problem.

Dave

PS: your biggest problem may turn out to be the Mr. Stripey plant anyway give its poor reputation.

I went and looked this morning, 3 of the plants exploded over the past couple of days- Mr. Stripey is the smallest of them all, and looks like it’s going to be full of disappointment all season. I got a Roma plant the other day for less than a dollar, was going to put it on the patio- but I’m thinking now I should just replace the Stripey with the Roma. Can I just remove me Stripey from the pot and put in the Roma? Or do I need to replace the soil too?

You can just remove and replace it with the Roma.

Dave